“FRECKLES, WAKE UP.”EVEN MYsleep-addled brain recognized the urgency in Elijah’s voice had nothing to do with his need for sex. This didn’t stop me from busting his balls.
“Again, Elijah? Damn, can’t a girl get some sleep?”
“How the hell are you sleeping through that?” A loud thud finally penetrated my brain. I sat up so fast I knocked my head against Elijah’s. “Fuck! I think you broke my nose.”
I threw back the covers, grabbed the flashlight out of my bedside table drawer, and marched across the bedroom. “This is getting out of hand.”
“Where are you going?” Elijah’s words were muffled by the hand he still held over his nose. “You’re naked.”
“What’s your point?” I asked, whipping open the door. “Have you ever known me to back down from a confrontation?”
I heard rustling sheets and Elijah’s heavy steps on the hardwood floor as he hurried to catch up to me. “My point is wherever you go naked, I go too, but does it have to be to the attic when our resident ghost is banging around up there?”
“Elijah, I’m sure you faced far scarier things when you worked undercover.” I glanced over at him and saw a dark shadow cross his handsome features. It was gone so fast I started to think I imagined it.
“There’s just something more unsettling about ghosts. Why is he suddenly angry? Everything seemed fine until you invited the paranormal investigator here tonight.”
“Lyric is gay and not attracted to me,” I told Elijah.
“I know. I saw how he couldn’t look away from Memphis at the barbecue.I’mnot threatened by Lyric, but your ghost is.”
Elijah had a point. We did have a peaceful coexistence until Lyric arrived. Itdidfeel like Anthony was suddenly upset. Jesus. I had zero experience dealing with ghosts and their moods. I had no proof the ghost in my house was Anthony Bliss, the founder of our town who disappeared in 1850, but I knew it in my heart.
“Stay down here and make sure he doesn’t lock me in the attic,” I told Elijah after I stomped down the hall to the attic door.
“I can’t let you go up there by yourself,” Elijah blustered.
“What exactly do you think will happen to me? He’s not shown any violent tendencies. He’s just upset about something. I’m just going to have a few words with him.”
“You’re going to go up there and yell at the ghost?”
“Who said I was going to yell? I simply plan on talking to him.”
“Do it from down here then,” Elijah countered.
“Then I will have to raise my voice to be heard over the noise he’s making.” I could tell Elijah wasn’t willing to let this go. I either hollered at Anthony from the bottom of the steps, or we risked getting locked in because Anthony seemed to think it was funny. “Fine.”
“Thank you, Freckles.”
“Anthony,” I said as firmly as I could without sounding like a shrew. “We’re trying to sleep down here.” The noise inside the attic stopped immediately. Elijah nodded encouragingly at me. “You have nothing to worry about, Anthony. We’re not trying to hurt you or even get rid of you. We’re only trying to find out what happened to you. We think you deserve it. You can ramble around here for as long as you want. Okay?” No response.
“I’m taking his silence as an agreement,” Elijah whispered.
“Me too,” I replied. “Let’s go back to bed. We don’t have to be up for a few hours still.”
Elijah slipped his arm around me and pulled my naked body flush against his. I felt his dick respond to my nearness, and I relished how much this man wanted me. “Now that we’re both wide awake…” Elijah let his suggestion trail off.
“I could use the assistance of a killer orgasm to help me fall back to sleep.”
“I live to be of service to your every need,” Elijah said. “I could plunder your…”
“Just fuck me, Elijah.” I broke from his embrace and ran down the hall, knowing he would catch me then love me until I was too physically exhausted to stay awake.
Three weeks later…
“WAKE UP, SLEEPY HEAD,”I whispered in Elijah’s ear. He was sprawled naked across our bed on his stomach with nothing but a sheet covering him. Our central air-conditioning was working overtime to keep up with the oppressive mid-July heat. Even though our unit was new and efficient, hot, humid air rose to the second story and seemed to hover there. Both Elijah and I tended to kick off the duvet and only cover up with the sheet.
“I don’t want to get out of this bed. My heart is happy, and my dick is satisfied in ways we never dreamed possible. What more could I possibly want?”
